IT’S been 997 days since Jia de Guzman last played a PVL Finals game with Creamline.
Two years, eight months, and 23 days removed from a five-set loss to Kurashiki Ablaze in the 2023 Invitational Conference knockout title game, the eight-time best setter returned to the finals looking sharper, steadier, and just as commanding as ever.
In between that gap came her Japan SV.League stint as well as national team duties, but the moment she stepped back into the spotlight, it all felt the same.
Or better yet in her own words, familiar.
“I think familiar is the better word for it. A lot of us were talking before the game what the feeling is coming into today’s game,” de Guzman said after orchestrating Creamline’s Game 1 sweep of Cignal with 22 excellent sets and four points.
“Every championship is different. The preparation, the teams that we go up against, but it is familiar territory for us because we’ve had experiences before.”
READ: A more 'gigil' Creamline proving to pose new problem for PVL
If anything, the result was not a surprise for her - not even after the Cool Smashers dropped two prior meetings to the Super Spikers.
“Tapos na ‘yun. The finals is a different story, and we did our best talaga to work with the strengths of Creamline and believe that we can execute the best way we can coming into this game,” she said.
“Hindi kami surprised, pero very thankful kami na we were very focused from start to finish.”
Peaking at the right time
Even in her return, de Guzman saw glimpses of the same championship DNA that made Creamline the league’s gold standard, so much so that they even won four of their 10 titles without her.
“We’d like to think that it’s a glimpse of it, but there are things that we can do better, so we need to do our best,” she said.
Now, the task is as clear but still as tough as can be: finish the story.
“Optimistic kami and we’re very thankful na konti-konti, nagje-jell talaga ‘yung team. We’re peaking at the right time and ibang klaseng laban naman ‘yung Game 2,” she added.
“We have to do our best to close out as much as possible because we know Cignal is a good team.”
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